


Danganronpa V3: Soul Saving Semester

by newtborn



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Ghosts, M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26835655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newtborn/pseuds/newtborn
Summary: Shuichi Saihara goes back to the scene of Daganronpa 53 and discovers something he didn't think would ever be possible.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Amami Rantaro, Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi, Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	1. Prologue

Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective, and one of three Ultimates left, sat in his office and typed away at his computer. Him and two others were the only ones leftover after the long running killing game phenomenon known as Danganronpa. By reanimating their memories and brains, the company responsible had created real life Ultimate students, rather than actors like they had used in the past. Those students were Shuichi and the rest of his class, most of whom are dead now. Because of their exceptional skills, the remaining students were granted high positions in their designated field once they reached the outside world. Thanks to that, Shuichi had no trouble getting money and a place to live after finding out he had nowhere to go.

He lived in an apartment not far from the office he sat in now. It wasn’t anything special, but it fit him just fine, he lived alone after all. Despite Tsumugi’s explanation, Danganronpa and the events that occurred within it weren’t entirely false. Most of the actors from the earlier seasons were chosen based on talents, for example, the actress who played Kyoko Kirigiri was an actual detective, one with whom he worked with currently. This is what allowed for Danganronpa to feel as realistic as possible, that, and the fact that all of the deaths were 100% real.

Shuichi sighed, it was a rather slow day today, he had finished all of the work he needed to get done early, and no new cases had come in at all. He took a sip of his coffee and stared blankly at the screen, he couldn’t help but get distracted over a game of solitaire. Unfortunately for him, the trauma caused by the death of his friends made him turn to some not so great hobbies. In order to cope, he turned to things like caffeine and nicotine, although he wasn’t allowed to smoke in the office. He tried therapy and counseling, but nothing seemed to help, and he couldn’t be bothered with things like medication. 

Just as he was about to play the next move of his game, a voice interrupted, “Shuichi!” He jumped up from his seat and quickly changed the tab on his computer to something more appropriate as his boss walked into the room and stood in front of his desk.

“Y-Yes, Kyoko?” He stammered awkwardly, still fiddling with his tabs, trying not to look too suspicious as he did.

The boss ignored his frantic behavior, “I told you that isn’t my real name…” She said, crossing her arms.

“Right, sorry, it’s just… Easier.” Shuichi looked away from her, desperate to get out of this interaction. It’s not that he hated Kyoko, he just didn’t like the memories that came with looking at her.

“Whatever makes you happy,” She sighed, “Listen, I have a case that I think will peak your interest quite a bit.” Kyoko walked over to his desk and laid down a file in front of him. Shuichi wasn’t exactly curious, he found his new job to be pretty boring if he was being honest. None of the cases he worked on even came close to what he had to solve back in the killing game. But then again, he never wanted to be a detective in the first place. “This isn’t something you necessarily have to take, but I think you’ll want to. Look over the case file and let me know what you think.”

“Ah… Um… Sure, yeah I can do that…” He picked up the file and opened it gently, but the second he saw the picture that was paperclipped to it, his interest skyrocketed, and he stuttered, almost dropping his mug, “Th-That’s!”

“The set of Danganronpa 53 Killing Harmony. I knew you’d come around.” Kyoko smiled at him, but he was too busy reading over the file to listen to whatever she was saying. Her words had no effect over him now, his mind was completely fixated on what he was looking at in front of him.

“Construction workers that have been working on fixing up the destroyed set have reported mass amounts of supposed paranormal activity and strange mishaps that could be caused by homeless people or wild animals. They insist that neither option is correct, and that the ghosts of the dead students haunt the area. They refuse to continue work until the scene is properly investigated.”

Shuichi flipped to the next page, “Can they even do that?” He thought to himself, “Regardless, ‘ghosts of the dead students’, could that really be it?”

“Shuichi!” Kyoko snapped her fingers in front of his face, bringing his mind back to reality, “I don’t believe in this kind of thing, but I’m sure you’re curious now.”

“Ah… Yeah…” Shuichi stared at the picture, “Is that really how it looks now? It’s… Exactly how it was when I was there.”

Kyoko looked down at the file from behind him, “Most of the outside has been repaired, but the inside of the main building is still a bit torn up. They’ve completely fixed the dorms and other outside buildings. I even think they plan to renovate everything and either market it as a tourist destination, or use it as an actual university.”

“Who in their right mind would want to attend that school?” Shuichi pondered, “I have to see this for myself… If there’s even a small chance that any of them are somehow in there, I have to find out!”

Kyoko tapped on his shoulder, “Am I writing your name down then?” She asked with a smile.

“Yeah, but…” Shuichi closed the file and stashed it in his desk drawer, “I want to be the only one working on this case, can you ensure that?”

Kyoko walked away from behind his desk and back to the front, “I don’t know if I can do that, Shuichi. You may be an Ultimate, but you aren’t given any special exceptions here.” She sighed.

“I know! I know…” He looked to the ground, “But, this is something only I can do, I’m sure of that. You have to let me take on this investigation alone!” Shuichi gripped his fists, all this time he’s been trying to forget about Daganronpa and everything that went on inside that academy, but now, he didn’t want to forget. He wanted to figure out what was happening here, desperately. 

Kyoko paused, and she thought for a moment. Shuichi looked at her with pleading eyes and her gaze turned serious, “I can’t do that Shuichi, not officially.” She adjusted her sleeves and straightened her skirt, “But, I can grant you a pass that will allow you to enter the scene at any time. You can go there whenever you feel like it, on and off the clock. After official investigations end for the day, you’ll be allowed to do things on your own afterwards. That’s about as much as I can do.”

Shuichi smiled and sighed in relief, “Thank you, Kyoko! That’s all I need!” He stood up out of his desk excitedly, “I’m going there as soon as possible!” He quickly packed up the stuff lying on the top of his desk into his bag and he hurriedly threw it over his shoulders.

“You do know your shift hasn’t ended, right? You’re still needed here.” Kyoko said. But Shuichi once again wasn’t paying attention to anything she was saying. His desk was cleaned off, and he shoved his chair underneath.

“Yeah, I got it.” Somehow, he was already on his way out the door, “Oh, the pass! Can you write that for me really quick?” Shuichi said, quickly turning around to face her, sweat starting to form on his face.

Kyoko giggled a little, “Alright, I’ll get that for you right now.” She walked to the back of the office and pulled out a slip of sorts, quickly writing on it with a pen she kept in her shirt pocket. After she finished her scribbling, she ripped it off of the stack and handed it to Shuichi. He didn’t even bother to read it before rushing out the door and towards the large staircase leading to his room, not even bothering to say goodbye to her. He shot through the doors to the large, empty staircase that no one took, but he couldn’t take the elevator anymore, it made him sick.

Shuichi eventually made it out of the building and quickly hopped into his car, he didn’t have any trouble affording one after his escape from the university, after all, his job did pay him well. He punched the address into his phone’s GPS, the set of Danganronpa 53 wasn’t exactly close however, by the time he’d arrive, it would be dark.

“That doesn’t matter,” Shuichi thought, “I have to see them, even if there’s only a slim chance!” His burst of motivation made him throw his phone onto the seat next to him and slam his foot on the gas pedal, quickly speeding off in the direction of the school that had once been the site of the 12 student’s deaths.


	2. A Familiar Face

Shuichi gasped as his car skidded to a halt. He pushed his foot down on the brake and gazed out of the window at the site in front of him. He’d been driving for about an hour, and somehow almost missed his stop, the previous set of Danganronpa 53, the killing game he participated in just six months ago. The sun was setting now, and he didn’t have much time before it’d be too dark to do much here.

Shuichi gulped, immediately getting some not so nice flashbacks, “I have to investigate all I can right now,” He thought, “I wanna figure this situation out as soon as possible…”

Shuichi didn’t normally believe in things like ghosts or spirits, but the case file stating the worker’s claims had managed to convince him. They said things like ‘hearing the piano late at night’ and ‘sounds of screaming coming from the basement.’ It just sounded too much like them to be a coincidence. He didn’t know what he was going to find, but it had to be something important.

Shuichi hesitantly exited his parked car and slammed the door shut behind him. The large barrier that once kept them all trapped in here was completely shattered now, probably thanks to Kiibo if he had to guess. He couldn’t see during that time, but he figured that’s what happened. Otherwise, the place looked strangely the same, not many signs of destruction from the outside at least. Some of the outside buildings had holes in their walls, and the ground was still torn up, but regardless, it looked similar enough to make Shuichi sick to his stomach.

He placed his hand to his head, “I thought I’d never see this place again…” Shuichi said in his mind, “I never wanted to, but look where I am now.”

He cautiously crept under the tape that prevented people from entering the area. Thankfully, whoever was working on this place wasn’t here, he was all alone. Gravel and shards of glass crunched under his shoes as he walked towards the building, his flashbacks slowly coming back to him as he did. He desperately tried to ignore the visions of death flashing in and out of his mind, it was all coming back to him at once. Eventually, he made it to the main entrance and laid his hand on the doorknob. 

“Do I really want to do this?” Shuichi asked himself, “I don’t know If I can handle being back here…” His PTSD was tormenting him now, how he managed to block it out for so long, he wasn’t sure, but being back here was clearly making it far too much to handle. “No… I came this far, I can’t back down now!”

Mustering up his courage, and pushing the thoughts down, Shuichi gripped the handle tighter and swung the entrance door open, unsurprisingly, there wasn’t anyone inside the main hall. He stealthily walked into the school and looked back and forth. For the most part, it looked similar to how it had only half a year ago, although it had definitely seen better days. Pieces of walls were still missing, and large blocks of concrete were ripped from the floor and scattered about.

Shuichi took in the atmosphere, “This was Kiibo’s doing… I was so scared when he flipped out like that…” He noted.

Shuichi walked through the familiar halls, not finding much of anything besides dust and gravel. He started to wonder if maybe it really was animals or homeless people causing the noise like the construction men had said. But, as he walked deeper into the school, he began to hear something that made his blood run cold and his feet freeze where he stood. The soft playing of a piano coming from down the hall. Shuichi’s heart stopped and he began to shake violently, Kaede was dead, he watched her die, so how is this possible?

“Maybe… Maybe someone else is here… Like a construction worker, or a homeless person! Yeah…” Shuichi calmed himself down, taking deep breaths as he continued walking, desperate to discover whatever was causing the piano music. He reached the clearing at the end of the hallway, on one side were two classrooms, and on the other was Kaede’s research lab, a room she never got to see. But sure enough, the music was definitely coming from there.

Shuichi was scared, he was terrified, but he came here for a reason, and he was determined to find out if any of them were here somehow. So, he slowly grabbed the handle and gently creeped the door open…

“Shuichi?”

He froze, completely baffled by what he was seeing, “Ah… AAAAAHH!” Shuichi fell backwards out of shock, landing roughly on the tattered floor, and he looked up. It was her, it was Kaede.

“Shuichi, are you okay?!” Kaede quickly leapt off the piano seat and ran towards him as he desperately tried to scramble backwards out of the room.

“A-Ah!” He couldn’t manage to get out any words, he was too confused and terrified of her, he watched her die, so how is she here now? But as she approached him, he noticed something was off about her. She had a white glow to her, almost as if she was a hologram. And the most damning thing he noticed was her massive bruise going all the way around her neck, as if she had been violently strangled, which she had. All of these factors combined lead to Shuichi determining that the Kaede towering above him, was a ghost.

“Shuichi? Hello?” Kaede put her hands on her knees and bent down to look at Shuichi, who was slowly coming to his senses.

“You… How?” He panted, running his fingers through his hair nervously, “This makes no sense… Ghosts… Ghosts aren’t real!” 

She stared at him for a second before cracking a smile and laughing at him. That laugh was so familiar to him, he thought he’d never hear it again, although he wasn’t exactly in the mood for jokes. “I’m surprised you can see me, those worker guys certainly can’t.” Kaede reached out her hand, signaling for Shuichi to take it. He still seemed confused, but Kaede’s presence managed to soothe him, as it always had, and he hesitantly grasped her hand and was pulled to his feet.

“Her hand… It was cold… So different from how it felt before.” Shuichi thought. He couldn’t help but stare at her neck, reimagining the long hours he was forced to spend watching her be suffocated. He felt his eyes begin to water, he only knew her for three days, but he couldn’t help getting attached to her, seeing her killed so brutally scarred him, and seeing her in front of him now was too much to handle.

“Hey, Shuichi!” She raised her hands to his face and brushed away his tears, “It’s okay! What happened to me wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t anyone’s fault but my own!” Even saying something like that, Kaede held a smile. 

“No… That’s wrong… You were innocent!” Shuichi sniffled and held onto her hands “They executed you for no reason!” His face heated up and began to flush out of anger and sadness.

“Shuichi…” Kaede sighed, “I’m not innocent. Even if my shot missed, I still intended to kill the mastermind. Even if not physically, mentally, I’m still a murderer. And that's a blame I’ve learned to accept.”

“I…” He didn’t want to listen. He couldn’t bring himself to imagine Kaede killing somebody. Maybe he really didn’t know her like he thought he had.

“I’m glad you’re here, Shuichi!” Kaede smiled sweetly at him, “I think you’ll be able to help us out!” 

“Huh?” Shuichi stopped crying and let go of Kaede’s hands, “Did you say… ‘us?’”

She sighed, looking back at the room behind her, “I’ve been stuck in this school for a long time now, we all have. Our souls are stuck here, we don’t exactly know why…”

“So, all of you are here? Like, everyone?” Shuichi perked up at the thought, there was someone in particular he was desperate to talk to one last time.

“That’s right. None of us can rest, we can’t even leave this place…” Kaede looked back to Shuichi, “Do you think you have an idea as to why?”

Although he didn’t originally believe in ghosts, he had done some research on them in the past. He could only think of a few ideas, “Well… Because you all died young, your spirits are probably vengeful. Or, maybe you all have some wish that needs fulfilling?”

“That could be it!” Kaede smiled wider, “Although, I don’t think I’m exactly vengeful.”

“She really has come to terms with her death…” Shuichi thought, “I still haven’t even accepted it.”

Kaede looked into Shuichi’s eyes gently, her gaze softening as he stared back, “Shuichi… I’m really glad you’re here. There’s a certain someone here who’s been… DYING to see you!” She laughed at her wordplay, but Shuichi couldn’t bring himself to laugh along.

“Ah… That was a bit insensitive… But I guess she’d be able to make those kinds of jokes, huh?” Shuichi moved on from the thought, “‘Dying to see me?’ Who could that be?” He thought about it for a moment before pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

“Oh hey, you got a phone! Do you think you cou-” Kaede’s excited expression suddenly dropped, and her face darkened, “Oh… That’s right, my family, they were a lie, weren’t they?”

Shuichi frowned, “Yeah… I haven’t been able to find my actual family yet. Even if I did, they probably wouldn’t recognize me.”

She sighed, “That’s so sad… I can’t believe our entire being is fake. Makes me think that being stuck here is much happier than your scenario.” She chuckled sadly.

“Eh… It’s definitely been hard…” He looked down at his feet, not sure what to say. Surely his situation can’t have been as bad to everything that the others went through. Although, if he were to be honest with himself, dying didn’t seem so bad at the moment.

Kaede clapped her hands together and gripped Shuichi’s shoulders tightly, causing him to gasp, “Well, you can’t give up!” She grinned, “You have to keep living! For all of us! And we need you right now, so we can escape this school once and for all!”

That was the Kaede he remembered so well, the first person to ever encourage him, to pick him up while he was down. Her optimism clearly hadn’t left her when her body did. Even after death, she continues to shine with such a bright hope in her heart. Shuichi forced a smile on his face, he had to, for her.

After a moment of silence, he spoke up, “Ah… I have a bit of a random question…” Shuichi told her, “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a bit…”

Kaede let go of him, “What is it?”

“Um… Kiibo… Is he here?” He stuttered, still not fully believing in the idea of ghosts, despite that one was looking right at him. He knew his fears were a reality once he saw Kaede’s mood drop, she didn’t say any words, just solemnly shook her head to the side. Kiibo was just a robot after all, nothing human about him.

“I’m sorry, Shuichi… I know how much he did for you all. I saw his sacrifice, that wasn’t because of the outside world, I’m sure of it!” Kaede attempted to comfort him, and it seemed to work, at least a little bit.

“Ah… You think so?” He smiled softly at the thought. The two stood there in silence for a bit before Shuichi looked out one of the windows, noticing how dark it had gotten outside. He checked the time on his phone once more, seeing it was now 10pm, “Ah! It’s pretty late…” He stuffed the phone into his pocket, “Kaede, I have to go, I’m gonna be back here tomorrow morning, ok?”

“Huh? You’re leaving?” Kaede asked, clearly holding back her disappointed expression.

“Those workers, they heard you guys. They’ve hired me and a team of detectives to investigate this place. I’ll be back with them, ok?” Shuichi grabbed his bag that he had dropped on the floor earlier, eager to head home and sleep until tomorrow.

“Oh, alright! I’ll try and find some of the others while you’re gone, I’m sure they have things to tell you!” Kaede giggled, making her way back over to the piano. “Goodbye, Shuichi. I’m so glad we got to meet again.”

He blushed, getting flustered by her presence all over again, “R-Right, you too!” Shuichi quickly hurried out the door of the lab and back into the broken hallway of the academy.

“Did… Did that really just happen?” Shuichi’s thoughts raced as he began the walk back to his car, “I can’t believe it… Ghosts are real… Kaede is a ghost… All of them are here… Does that mean, Kaito is too? And… Him…”

He tried not to think about it too much, both nervous, and excited to be able to talk to everyone again. But, he knew what his goal in the end was. “Kaede said they’re stuck in that school… She wants me to help them rest in peace, I’ll have to say goodbye to them all over again…” He sighed, trying to clear his mind before buckling into his car and stepping on the gas.


End file.
